The Final Word

Ship Tech & Green Shipping Corridors

Ship Tech To Enable Green Shipping Corridors is ‘Good to Go’

Given a lifetime of 20–30 years for a ship built today, it is vital to start thinking now about how to reach the IMO’s goal for net-zero emissions for all vessels by or around 2050. That isn’t that far off, and establishing green shipping corridors is a key strategy we can use to move toward the target, urges Asbjørn Halsebakke, Senior Manager Marine Concepts of Finnish maritime power electronics specialist The Switch, a BEMAC company.

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The whole idea behind green shipping corridors is to support zero-emission shipping on specific busy routes between major ports. Hopefully, these corridors will encourage and support shipowners and cargo owners who select green vessel solutions and, at the same time, discourage or penalize those who continue to pollute.

Sustainable maritime highways will not only benefit deep-sea container shipping but also feeder vessels and chemical and LPG shortsea tankers as they sail from major hubs to smaller ports nearby. This would contribute to zero emissions in both global and regional shipping and, not least, pave the way for a more sustainable future for our children and grandchildren.

Advisory giant McKinsey recently collaborated with the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping in Copenhagen to create a blueprint to help stakeholders assess the feasibility of green corridor projects. They studied three different alternatives:

  • Single-point harbour or port hubs that allow round-trip zero-emission bunkering

  • Point-to-point transport corridors between two harbours with zero-emission bunkering at both ends

  • Network corridors between three or more harbours that all support zero-emission bunkering

One corridor being suggested for deep-sea shipping is the main haul container route from Asia to Europe. According to McKinsey, approximately 24 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) were traded on this route on 365 vessels in 2019. The ships burned approximately 11 million metric tons of fuel, accounting for roughly 3% of global shipping emissions – more than any other global trade. So, reducing emissions from boxships is a clear target.

Asbjørn Halsebakke
Consumers are having a bigger impact on decisions and choices than industry stakeholders may be aware. The new LNG-powered dual-fuel pure car truck carrier (PCTC) BYD Explorer No.1 – built and leased to Chinese automaker Build Your Dreams (BYD) to transport electric cars, is the first in a fleet of eight greener car carriers – an example of manufacturers flexing their muscles to ensure their goods are shipped in a more environmentally friendly way. The ship is also equipped with a low-resistance antifouling paint technology that can reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions by up to 5%. - Asbjørn Halsebakke, Senior Manager Marine Concepts of The Switch (a BEMAC company)

Ports on the Frontline

Ports will have to decide if they will gamble on one energy source or go for all known solutions: hydrogen, ammonia, biogas, electricity and others.

The Port of Rotterdam is a forerunner in this area, having developed an extremely interesting concept that includes:

  • Development of green power and a bigger electric grid

  • Development of plants for producing and transporting hydrogen

  • Transport and bunkering of any green fuel

  • Transport and storage of CO2 for carbon capture

  • Shore-based power for docked vessels

  • Transport of residual heat for commercial and residential use

For the immediate future, the industry needs to look at single-port solutions. Point-to-point and network solutions are more challenging to achieve. Both require different governments and port authorities/operators to agree on the green corridor and then on what type of fuel they will use and how to bunker it.

In the long term, the major ports of the world need to agree on the goals. If a vessel needs green ammonia to be able to run on zero emissions, then it must be available in the ports. Communication and discussion are needed, but action is essential; the clock is ticking.

Consumers Carry Weight

Consumers are having a bigger impact on decisions and choices in this regard than industry stakeholders may be aware of. The newly delivered, LNG-powered dual-fuel pure car truck carrier (PCTC) BYD Explorer No.1 – built and leased to Chinese automaker Build Your Dreams (BYD) to transport electric cars, as the first in a fleet of eight greener car carriers – is an example of manufacturers flexing their muscles to ensure their goods are shipped in a more environmentally friendly way. Using LNG significantly reduces emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulphur oxides.

The ship is also equipped with a low-resistance antifouling paint technology that can reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions by up to 5%.

Hence, green corridors can become a ‘bragging tool’ for retailers and will give consumers in Europe the opportunity to choose products that may not be locally produced but have been shipped using more sustainable transport. The smaller vessels that carry these cars and containers from huge green ports to smaller cities like Oslo and Helsinki can also benefit from green bunkering opportunities available in the big ports.

Future-Ready Vessels

Vessels ordered today will last well past the IMO’s 2050 climate target date. They must be ready for green corridors. But how can you build vessels that are ready before ports are ready? And what is the point of building zero-emission bunkering infrastructure in ports if the vessels aren’t ready?

At the very least, vessels built today must be equipped for change. We’re already in dialogue with shipowners about finding good solutions that can be used in green corridors. For example, The Switch’s shaft generators and propulsion motors are high in efficiency, enabling a vessel to run as either PTO or PTI and preparing it for the operational changes needed for any available future energy source.

And the greenest energy is the energy you don’t use. At The Switch, we have a long track record of connecting new electrical sources and energy storage on a vessel to make sure emissions and fuel consumption are reduced and transport is as green as possible.

The Switch DC-Hubs are ready for all loads and electric energy sources, whether the selection is ammonia, hydrogen or something else. In combination with batteries, The Switch DC-Hub perfectly supports vessels toward zero emissions in 2050 and even sooner. We also have an impressive history of delivering shaft generators to both deep-sea containerships and feeder vessels, including deliveries of shaft generators to one of the biggest global EV makers in the world, and we are ready for more.

Winning Combination

I believe the combination of the DC-Hub, batteries, fuel cells, energy-efficient propulsion or a 2-stroke engine with a shaft generator are modern solutions with clear benefits, especially pertinent for green corridors and feeder ships. They far exceed the response and efficiency of dated solutions that have been the industry standard to date.

The Switch continually works with owners, ship designers and system integrators to find solutions that can be used both now and in the future. Meanwhile, I’m rooting for the first green corridors to go live as soon as humanly possible. The technology is there to make it happen.

Marine Technology Magazine
January 2025